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​Our monthly websites allow us the opportunity to show you a little of what we have been working on thus far. As always, thank you for your support and should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us. Lastly, JupiterEd is up and running. We encourage you to remain up to date regarding your child's grades. Also, we send out weekly newsletters (each Friday) which will also keep you up to date on weekly quizzes, tests, projects, assignments and in general "the happenings in the middle school." ​

Cultural History​We are having a fantastic time in Cultural History! The students have been sharing their personal history as well as their knowledge about world history. The 7th grade curriculum includes word events from 1600 to present. We enjoy watching CNN student news every day. This news show has educated us on current events around the world, and shown us the many countries and cultures that comprise the world. We have focused on map skills to have an awareness of the location of the many continents, and countries around the world.We began the year with exploration and had fun learning about the discovery of the "New World' and how global exchange occurred, making it possible for people to share ideas, food, religion, and culture with each other. America is a melting pot of people from all around the world. We are currently making a menu of foods from around the world, and telling about where each food item originated. It has been interesting to learn that many of our favorite foods did not originate in the United States.​ Students will take written tests as well as work on many projects during this school year. It is such a fun process to see the students' creativity when researching and reflecting on history. Our focus this week will be the presidential election. Students will research the issues facing the American people, and each candidates' stance on these issues. We will engage in a socratic seminar to discuss the issues. We have also learned about the electoral college, and how the president is elected, as well as the requirements to be able to run for president. The students will make posters to support their candidate and the posters will be displayed in the middle school building. We will hold a mock election on Monday, November 7.

English Language ArtsWe have been delving deeply into the elements of plot through their summer reading books, The Giver and Touching Spirit Bear. The plot is what forms a memory in the readers’ mind, allowing them to think about the book and even making them want to read it again! By identifying and understanding the plot, our students will be able to understand the message being conveyed by the author and the explicit or implicit moral of the story.​As students finished their reading projects, they began the process of reflection. Throughout the year, during and following learning activities, students will be asked to engage in the reflection process. As Costa and Kallick point out, “... the teacher acts as an intermediary between the learner and the learning, guiding each student to approach the learning activity in a strategic way. The teacher helps each student monitor individual progress, construct meaning from the content learned and from the process of learning it, and apply the learnings to other contexts and settings. Learning becomes a continual process of engaging the mind that transforms the mind. We will now be ready to embark on applying our new understanding of plot to create our own short stories.

ScienceIn 7th grade science we are rocking along learning about the Chemical Nature of Matter. We began our study by learning about the organization of the periodic table of the elements. Students have learned how to use the Periodic Table of the Elements to discover information about individual atoms. After developing a solid understanding of the structure of atoms, students are examining how atoms interact to form molecules and how molecules interact during chemical reactions. To make chemistry more real, we took a trip to the SC Aquarium to learn begin our journey of learning about water quality and how it affects the living things in each major land region of SC.

Math- Mrs. CoolerIt has been a great start to the school year so far! Both Algebra and Pre-Algebra have wrapped up their first chapters of study and learned a great deal in relation to our Big Ideas of Independence and Interdependence. In Pre-Algebra, we referenced how total distance traveled would be interdependent on speed and time traveled or how much money you can earn would depend on amount paid and time worked. In Algebra, solving for variables is independent between problems.

Algebra students have been working hard on their unit projects and they are looking great so far. The first half of the projects will be due on Oct. 28 and the second half will be due on Nov. 9

​Pre-Algebra students are excited to start their next unit of study and completed their upcoming vocabulary. We are looking forward to planning a project and field trip based on this next unit: PERCENTS!

Math-- Mrs. KolbWe are finishing up chapter 1 and look excitedly toward chapter 2. We have covered topics like unit rates, slope, constant rate of change, direct variation and proportional/non-proportional. I am excited to see what the students create for their expanded recipe as they must take a recipe that feeds 8-12 and expand it to make it feed 20. A lot of cool and real-world math is involved in this project and it really shows that math is useful, everywhere and so very important to our daily lives. ​​

Our Lower School Buddies!One of Riverview's missions is to create a learning community where the whole child can be nurtured. Our "Buddy" program is a wonderful example of how we are making this happen within our middle school. Our 7th graders are assigned a "buddy" in kindergarten or 2nd grade. Through the buddy program, we are able to introduce our young friends to 21 century skills and form lasting reltionships.